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Top 10 Ridiculous Quotes by Senator Mitch McConnell

1. “The Patriot Act is one of the most important and overdue pieces of legislation in a generation."Source:National Review.

To the contrary, the Patriot Act is one of the most anti-civil liberties legislation in a generation. The Patriot Act violates the 4th Amendment to the Constitution by authorizing the federal government to spy on U.S. citizens without a warrant. The law contains a controversial provision, Section 215, that permits the federal government to collect call records made by every American, without needing any suspicion of wrongdoing.

2. Senator McConnell called the passage of TARP, “Senate at its finest.”Source:The Hill.

McConnell voted in favor of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Also known as the $700 billion bank bailout, the largest ever government bailout of a private industry. FreedomWorks strongly opposed TARP during the George W. Bush administration. However, McConnell praised its passage. He added: "In the years that I’ve been here, I can’t recall a single time, where in this close proximity to an election, both sides have risen above the temptation to engage in partisan game playing if you will, to address an issue of great magnitude."

3. Senator McConnell called Medicare Part D, “the most important social legislation … in my memory."Source:Politico.

McConnell voted for Medicare Part D. The massive government health care program is the largest entitlement expansion since the Great Society with the exception of now ObamaCare. Medicare Part D has expanded the deficit and added trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities for taxpayers.

4. Senator McConnell said Medicare Part D provided, “a genuine opportunity for the private sector to actually compete in offering this new drug benefit.”Source: Politico.

Ah. McConnell once again praising Medicare Part D. The free market solution is to get the federal government out of the health industry to allow for more competition and choice. Instead, McConnell voted for an expensive entitlement program that gives the federal government more control over our health care decisions.

5. “The biggest hero to emerge from the hearings before the 9/11 Commission has been the Patriot Act.”Source:U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works press release.

No. An abusive law that treats innocent American citizens like suspects is not heroic. (See: #1)

6. "The President has made it clear that the NSA is acting within the law and is doing what needs to be done to protect America from future attacks."Source: Project Vote Smart.

To be fair, this quote is from 2006. However, the Snowden leaks revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been collecting telephone metadata on millions of Americans since at least 2006. Our civil liberties matter regardless if a Republican or a Democrat is in the White House. The NSA's actions are not necessary or constitutional.

7. On TARP: “Under ordinary circumstances, I would have opposed such a measure. Government intervention in the marketplace cuts against all my ordinary impulses. But this was not an ordinary event. I, and many others, believed that extraordinary action was needed to protect millions of ordinary Americans from the colossal and far-reaching mistakes of a few. And action was taken."Source:RepublicanSenate.Gov.

Hmm. Does this remind you of the famous George W. Bush quote from the TARP-era? "I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system." The real solution is to allow the market to get us out of the mess that was actually created by government intervention in the market in the first place. There is no justification for taxpayers to be put on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for the bad decision of big bankers.

8. The Troubled Asset Relief Program has “succeeded in stabilizing the banking system.”Source:Politico.

No. TARP has not been a success. The bank bailout set a dangerous precedent and will likely lead to more bank bailouts in the future. If banks know that they will bailed out if they fail, they are more likely to engage in high-risk and high-reward positions. If they succeed? They are rewarded by the market. If they fail? They are rewarded by the government through taxpayers. It's a win-win scenario that only encourages bad behavior.

9. “If there is any criticism at all with the proposed FISA reauthorization, it is that it does not go far enough. Most Americans have the common sense to recognize that FISA and every other tool we have used in this fight are worth making permanent.”Source: National Review.

Senator Mitch McConnell voted for the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which granted immunity to companies for giving private information about their customers to the government without a warrant. There are many privacy and transparency concerns with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) especially with the FISA courts. These top secret courts are where the NSA gets its legal authority to spy on Americans. According to CNN, "The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court -- or FISA Court for short -- is a panel that critics contend rubber-stamps nearly every National Security Agency request to snoop that it receives." FreedomWorks has supported efforts to make FISA court decisions open and accountable to the people.

10. “Nothing in this [Patriot Act] extension has ever been found to be unconstitutional.”Source:CSPAN2.

McConnell voted to make most of the USA-PATRIOT Act’s provisions permanent in 2006.

This is all that needs to be said:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." -4th amendment, U.S. Constitution.

Another area where progressives and real conservatives have common ground. We all oppose the intrusion of the state into our private lives in the way the NSA has been responsible for. It is the establishment politicians who are our common opponent.

FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon sent a letter to Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Tuesday morning urging them not to consider any nominee to the Supreme Court until the American people express their views on the matter in November, through their choice of the next president.

History is filled with pitfalls and terrible occurrences. For most of human history, the early world consisted of nothing but war, theft, slavery, and obedience to a state which ruled through fear. While those of us living in the US live so comfortably, that not even kings from a different era could compare to even our lowest standard of living, there are many people throughout the world that still live in an environment where something is absent- liberty.

Following the news of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s intent to probe the National Security Agency’s snooping lawmakers who had been in contact with Israeli officials, FreedomWorks Legislative Affairs Manager Josh Withrow commented:

Last night’s Republican debate drew a sharp contrast between candidates on the question of how surveillance ought to be used to fight global terrorism. Tempers flared as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio engaged in a heated back and forth over the wisdom of bulk spying in general, and the USA Freedom Act in particular.

As attempts to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) are continually stalled out in Washington, California took the initiative, and Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) signed a new bill into law last week. CalECPA or S.B. 178 greatly strengthens state privacy standards compared to federal requirements under ECPA. Most importantly, the legislation mandates that state authorities must obtain a warrant to access any private emails, regardless of age. This is a notable change from the previous standard, which allowed authorities access to the same content without a warrant as long as the emails were dated past 180 days. Additionally, the bill would also require California authorities to obtain a warrant not only for emails, but for digital records, texts, and a user’s geographical location as well. Even further, the protections provided in this bill would be applied to online storage services in addition to electronic devices.

Fiscal conservatives have been rightly celebrating the resignation of John Boehner as Speaker of the House, paving the way for new, more principled leadership. But there is a dark side to Boehner’s decision: along with his House seat, he’s also forfeited any accountability that might have reined him in for the remainder of his term. Even now, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, and Barack Obama are conspiring to craft a two-year budget deal that would combine a whole slew of big government priorities into one fiendish package.

On Wednesday, September 16, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held another important hearing to discuss reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, more specifically in regard to S.356, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of 2015. This proposed amendment, which was introduced to the Senate in February by Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), has somehow been continually ignored despite attracting 22 cosponsors in the Senate and almost 300 cosponsors in the House, enough for a comfortable supermajority.